Explained: Why Paris Olympics 2024 Has Purple Track in Stade de France For Athletics Events – News18

As the Athletics events are set to begin on August 2 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the tracks being used for the respective events have seen an interesting change.

The Italian-based company, Mondo has been making the tracks for the quadrennial event since 1976 but this time opted for something different. However, the change is not just a cosmetic one. The makers have suggested that the new track will provide better performance than the one used in Tokyo 2020.

“We have changed the design of the cells on the lower layer of the track compared to the one used in Tokyo,” Maurizio Stroppiana, vice president of Mondo’s sports division and son of one of the two founders, told AFP.

READ MORE: Paris Olympics 2024: New Athletics Tracks to Ensure Better Performance for Athletes to Come in Purple

“That reduces the energy loss for athletes and sends it back up to them at the best possible point of their movement,” he added.

Andrea Marenghi the research and development manager also told AFP that the two new shades — one for the competition areas and another for the technical areas — will only be used for the Games in the French capital.

“We wanted to have an original colour,” said former decathlete Alain Blondel, the head of athletics and para-athletics events at the Paris Olympics.

“The two shades of purple allow for maximum contrast when TV pictures are being shot, highlighting the athletes.”

Along with the new change, it will also bring in a more sustainable model which has been the ongoing theme in various aspects of the Paris Games as the tracks will have more natural components than ever before.

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“Up to 50 per cent of the components of the track are either renewable to recycled… we were at just over 30 per cent for London 2012,” says Mondo’s sustainability and innovation chief Giorgio Lesage.

Several Indian athletes will get to take part in their respective events where they will experience the new purple-coloured track first-hand. India’s first major athletics event would be Round 1 of the Women’s 5000m race where the likes of Parul Chaudhary and Ankita Dhyani will be in action at 9:40 PM (IST) on August 2nd.

Following this, India’s shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor will also be involved in the Men’s Shot Put Qualifier which takes place at 11:40 PM (IST)

(with AFP Inputs)

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